


You Can't Kill the Mouse!

by Wisteria_Mutterings



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Animals, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Good Parent Grace Hargreeves, Rescue, Siblings, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 04:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21009881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wisteria_Mutterings/pseuds/Wisteria_Mutterings
Summary: How many super-powered siblings does it take to spring a mouse from a glue trap? Ben doesn't know, but the tears running down his face are enough to make everyone want to find out(Turns out; none. Just a loving mom with a fast processing system)





	You Can't Kill the Mouse!

“M-mom?”

The children in the kitchen all turned to find Ben standing in the doorway. He had something cradled in his hands.

“Ben? What’s the matter?” Grace asked, turning and walking over to peer at the thing in Ben’s hands. He pulled it away and tucked himself over it a little.

“Let me see,” Grace instructed.

“Promise you won’t tell dad, he’ll make me kill it.”

“Let me see,” Grace repeated.

Ben pulled his hands back and all of his siblings got up to join him and peer at the thing in his hands.  
A small glue trap was sticking to his gloves gently. In the middle of it, a tiny gray mouse lay, chest heaving. One of its paws twitched and Ben burst into tears suddenly.

Grace, alarmed, reached over to hold his shoulders.

“He’s gonna die!” Ben hiccuped, “He looks so scared!”

“Shh,” Grace murmured.

“We can help it!” Vanya piped up quietly. When all her siblings turned to look at her, she turned red.  
“C’mon, you’ve all got super powers! It’s like a training exercise.”

“She’s right,” Five said. “Mom, can you look up how to spring a mouse from a glue trap? It’s for a training exercise.”

“Maybe Diego could throw a knife right between the glue and the fur,” Klaus suggested. 

“No, it’s too narrow. Might just kill the mouse,” Five murmured.

“Would not!” Diego protested

“Maybe it we soak it in water?” Luther tried, “the glue might come loose…”

“The mouse might get too cold. Can Mice get wet?” Allison asked softly.

“What if we used warm water?”

“We might drown it by accident,” Klaus murmured gently. 

“What would happen if we just...pulled it up?” Five asked, “it would just pull all the fur out, right? We could let it rest here until it grew back.”

“No, we might rip the skin off too,” Diego answered.

Luther shrugged, “I don’t think we can get it off. Maybe we should just...kill it?”

“No!” Ben shrieked, “no we can’t!”

“He might be right,” Allison murmured, “if it’s suffering and we can’t help…”

“Please I don’t want to,” Ben begged. Klaus nodded.

“C’mon guys we can’t just give up.”

“If it’s hurt-”

“No!” Ben screeched, pulling the mouse toward him, "You can't kill the mouse!"

“Children please!” Grace scolded. “You’ll disturb your father.”

The children grew quiet, all staring at the twitching mouse in their brother’s hands. Ben sniffled a few more times. Klaus wrapped an arm around his brother.

“Done.” Grace murmured. “Luther, could you please get me some vegetable oil? Vanya, I need a few cotton buds.”

Ben walked the mouse over to the table.

“Maybe Allison can put it to sleep,” Luther suggested.

Allison leaned over the little thing.

“I heard a rumor you were gonna fall asleep,” she murmured.

The mouse’s eyes continued to dart around

“Nothing happened,” Diego smirked.

“Oh shut up.”

Ben sat down and sniffled a few more times before Vanya and Luther returned. Ben watched as his mother took the cotton buds and the vegetable oil and began to gently blot it around where the mouse was stuck on the glue.

It took the better part of an hour.

Luther and Allison were chatting at the other end of the table. Klaus and Diego were both trying to juggle apples. Five had left a long time ago. Vanya sat next to Ben and their mother.

Finally, Grace gently peeled the mouse from the pool of oil and held it up gently. 

“There we go,” she murmured. She gently placed the mouse in Ben’s hands.

“You have to wash him off gently,” she said. She turned and began to prepare a small box for the mouse.

When Ben finished, he slid it into the box. Grace took it carefully.

“Good job children,” she said, “I think you performed very admirably.”

While everyone else left, Ben hovered around the little mouse in the tissue box. 

“What’ll happen to him mom?”

Grace patted his head. “Don’t worry Ben. The mouse will be okay. It's time for bed dear, head upstairs.”

That night when Ben was being tucked in, his mother stood and turned. Pogo was in the doorway, a small smile on his face.

“I imagine there’s a small fellow in the garden who’d like to thank you,” Pogo murmured.

Ben felt more tears prickle his eyes. Grace kissed his forehead and shut out the lights.

“Goodnight Ben.

Ben sniffled, a smile pulling at his mouth. “Thank you, Mom.”


End file.
